I would sneak into different theaters wearing a baseball cap. I usually sat in the back of the theater and right when it started, I would say a little prayer thanking God. Occasionally I would go sit next to people, and this one time a kid turned to look at me during the movie and his eyes got big. He looked at his mom and said, “I think that lady is the superstar!”
Photo: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Damn right she is!
I went to so many screenings and when the movie was over, there were always people running out of the theater yelling, “Superstar!” It made me really emotional. And then when Halloween came around, all these people would dress up as the character. It’s just continued to grow and grow into this cult classic where people still quote the dialogue at me to this day.
Has it been a pretty constant stream of people running up to you and screaming “Superstar!” since the late ’90s?
Yes, and I never get sick of it! It has never stopped, from the first time I played Mary up to now. One time I was sitting with a boyfriend at a diner in New York and we’re by the window, eating breakfast, when somebody pressed their face against the glass window and screamed “Superstar!” My boyfriend looks up, doesn’t say anything, and immediately goes back to eating. People always love to ask me to do my characters, and I don’t wanna call attention to myself but I’ll do it quietly. Sometimes I think it’s funnier to do a little “Superstar!” under my breath.
Whenever I do anything even remotely glamorous, I still say “You know what it’s time for? Supermodel Documentary Hour!”
That was one of my favorite days of shooting. And it’s funny, because Christy Turlington came to a book party that I threw in New York a few years back. She came with the designer Clare Vivier, who’s a friend of mine, and we took a picture together. I didn’t think of it until afterwards, but I was like, Oh my God, this is just like Superstar!
Did you ever encounter any ire from Catholics or Catholic organizations who didn’t enjoy the character?
I’m not a practicing Catholic anymore, but I was raised Catholic and the character of Mary definitely reflects that. This isn’t Monty Python, and I wanted to make it very clear that God means very much to her and she prays every single day. But we definitely got some letters from people who didn’t find her funny. This was before the internet really allowed direct feedback, so people would send hand-written notes, and I remember getting some stuff from the Catholic Church. Everyone would put stuff like that on the bulletin boards at SNL, and I remember reading one and thinking, Huh, the Archdiocese doesn’t like Mary.